Over the course of the six weeks, Healy and Liu will blog their
experiences for Sherdog.com. Today’s post comes from Liu.

Yesterday, we gave our new coaches a real introduction to
China.

Oct. 1 is China’s National Day, the celebration of the founding of
the People’s Republic of China. We decided to take Brad and Pat out
for some traditional Uyghur food (from the province of Xinjiang)
and some Chinese baijiu (white wine that resembles vodka, but is
much stronger).

Brad especially wasn’t ready for our tradition of the “gan bei,” or
“dry glass,” meaning you have to drink a small cup in one shot.
Baijiu isn’t easy for anyone to drink -- it is best described as
trying to drink sweet fire -- but especially not for foreigners. I
saw the look on Brad’s face when he took his first drink and we all
knew he was in big trouble.

Pat seemed a bit more able to handle the baijiu, but he soon
learned that sheer numbers in China, no matter how resolute you
are, will eventually take you down. By the end of the lunch, Brad
was close to sleeping and Pat looked like he just took a kick to
the face. I thought that we would not be seeing them at the evening
trainings, but sure enough, at 7:30 p.m., they came in strong! I
was quite impressed by their ability to handle that lunch and still
come train.

As these weeks are progressing, I think we are learning a lot about
Americans that we never knew. Pat and Brad are great coaches, but
they are also some of the nicest people I have met. They are really
eager to understand China and help us to develop MMA here. Pat even
offered for all of us to come join him and his team in America and
train.

I think throughout this training we will not only improve our
skills as fighters, but also our understanding of each other and
the bond that comes from being an athlete, no matter where you come
from.